A multi-year financial management plan for Beaver County — funded by a state grant and produced by independent analysts — shows the county is in the middle of a financial crisis that must be addressed to avoid insolvency. The analysis stands in sharp contrast to public statements made by Commissioners Tony Amadio and Dan Camp, who have attempted to cast doubts about the county’s dire financial position.

In a draft copy of a report by Public Financial Management (PFM) Consulting Group obtained by BeaverCountian.com, the company puts to rest any uncertainty about the condition of Beaver County’s finances. The draft copy is stamped “confidential” and notes final numbers are subject to change.

Projections show the county will face a $5.4 million deficit in the General fund beginning in 2019 that will grow by roughly $2 million each and every year through 2023 — the final year studied by analysts.

“[T]he severity of the problems highlighted by the baseline projection should not be dismissed as ‘just one scenario,'” analysts wrote. “During our departmental interviews, some people asked questions like, ‘Are the problems really that serious?’ or ‘Are they any worse than other Pennsylvania counties face?'”

“In 2017 the County increased its real estate tax rate by 17 percent to help balance its budget. Coupled with the debt restructuring that reduced associated payments for a couple years and the pension credit related to the Friendship Ridge sale, the tax increase reportedly helped the county generate a $4.7 million surplus for 2017.

“In late 2017 the County adopted a balanced budget for 2018. To do so, the County zeroed out its contribution to the employee pension plan for one year and used $1.3 million in reserves to cover its anticipated expenditures. The actions that helped the County in 2017 and 2018 — trading lower debt payments now for higher payments later, double-digit tax increases, skipping contributions to the pension plan, using reserves to cover current year expenditures — are not sustainable over the long term. Meanwhile the County’s investment in repairing and replacing its core infrastructure remains modest at $700,000 in 2018 and there is no meaningful plan in place to fund needed capital improvements beyond that.”

Commissioners have in effect been “balancing” the budget by compounding the severity of financial problems the county will be facing in coming years. The county’s budget remains structurally imbalanced, with recurring expenses significantly outpacing recurring revenues.

Following news of a General Fund “surplus” from 2017, Commissioner Amadio boasted that Beaver County never was facing budget deficits, that the county’s budgets have been good, and that then-Financial Administrator Ricardo Luckow had been wrong in his assessments of the county’s dire financial situation.

Amadio told WBVP: “For example, when it was stated that it was a $16.5 million deficit two years ago, that’s 1/4th the General Fund. That’s impossible to come back from that in two years. So that was my concerns, my concerns were the budgets were good, the ending surpluses were good, and I’m just happy.”

As BeaverCountian.com has previously reported, the county ended 2015 without the necessary funds to repay tax anticipation loans as required. Under then-Financial Administrator Vince LaValle, the county drafted bad checks with insufficient funds in its bank accounts to repay the loans. The move carried a $6.91 million cash deficit into 2016, when additional loans were obtained to prevent the original loan payment checks from bouncing once cashed. It was news never reported by the Beaver County Times or WBVP.

“I feel vindicated,” Amadio told the Times at the end of February. “I’m just happy that everyone finally realizes there’s a surplus. My major concern is our chairman [Commissioner Sandie Egley] talking about the big deficit Beaver County was having, and we’re sitting on $4.7 million.”

Commissioners Camp and Amadio last month hired “Susquehanna Accounting and Consulting Solutions” from Harrisburg to fill the vacant role of county financial administrator. Commissioner Egley came out against the contract after learning the group would work remotely and not make itself available during public meetings in Beaver County.

Commissioner Camp told the Beaver County Times: “It’s important to see a different style of financial administrator than we had before. They are an outside company, and they won’t be playing favorites.”

Commissioners Amadio and Camp signed a contract with Susquehanna Consulting last month despite no formal vote being conducted at a public meeting.

While other counties in Pennsylvania are also experiencing the problem of flat property tax revenues against growing personnel expenditures, the PFM analysts say Beaver County’s problems are far greater than most.

“As noted earlier, this County’s debt burden is higher, its spending on capital projects is lower and its credit rating is weaker than other Pennsylvania counties that largely have the same constraints. The County should not be content to be at the lower end of the rankings.” Analysts noted that “of the 38 Pennsylvania counties that have received credit rating scores from Standard & Poor’s, Beaver County had the third lowest score as of April 2018.”

Analysts also pointed out that S&P repeatedly downgraded the county’s credit rating to the third lowest possible before reaching “junk bond” status, and noted that S&P found the county has suffered from “weak management” among other problems.

“Beaver County government’s financial challenges are real and require deliberate action to fix now,” concluded analysts. “If the County tries to address these challenges solely on a year-to-year basis through its annual budget process, leaders will back themselves into a corner where they will need to implement more severe tax increases, service cuts or both with the sole purpose of remaining solvent.”

It’s time to clean our county government up. Sandie was correct about our funds that this county is Broke.

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Jul 7, 2018 11:41 am

Guest

Valdamir

Horrible!
The last groups of county commissioners have made their government a shithole.
The Times is fake news!
Will anyone run against this mess?

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Jul 7, 2018 3:38 pm

Member

rick

Thank you John Paul for all your work.

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Jul 7, 2018 11:42 am

Member

Gerald Benyo

The county funding 400+ hours of overtime for the District Attorney’s detectives in six weeks will not help matters – and who knows the amount of overtime that will be accumulated by the end of the year. Contrast that expense with the cost of the Pennsylvania State Police assisting in investigations – a total expense of zero dollars. Perhaps it would be cost effective and financially intelligent for the District Attorney to rethink his refusal to work with Troopers in major crime investigations. Sandy Egley was right to suggest this fix months ago.

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Jul 7, 2018 11:51 am

Guest

Unbungabelievable

Words of wisdom from one of Beaver Countys “finest”. Maybe we the people of Beaver County will wake up now. The crooks need replaced – all the way around… They need held accountable.

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Jul 7, 2018 12:09 pm

Guest

Tiredofitall

Piss poor attempt at politicking for your next attempt at the DA office? Wow! I wouldn’t stoop so low. That young lady is someone’s daughter. There, but for the grace of God go you or one of us.

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Jul 7, 2018 1:27 pm

Member

Gerald Benyo

My comment has nothing to do with politics. There should be no effort or expense spared in bringing a murderer to justice. However, I disagree with the decision not to involve the State Police in the investigation of serious crimes (like homicide) in Beaver County as a financial matter for taxpayers. The county must stop spending money it does not have and one way to make budget cuts painlessly is to utilize the State Police.

As to the DelTondo homicide, involving the State Police as the primary investigating agency would have removed any stigma of corruption and impropriety for a jury. Instead, at this point a defense attorney has plenty of opportunities to point at disfunction by the Aliquippa PD and District Attorney’s Office to raise reasonable doubt.

I can not imagine the pain of the young woman’s family of losing her to a senseless and unjustifiable act of violence, but how horrible will it feel if the person charged with the homicide is not convicted because of questions raised about the manner in which the investigation was conducted or the motives behind the investigators.

The public does not know at this point what investigations are being run into Beaver County government and law enforcement by the Attorney General or the federal government, but what happens to the DelTondo investigation if any of the individuals involved with the DelTondo investigation are indicted or otherwise connected with corruption? This homicide needs to be investigated properly and a conviction obtained. Petty feuds, hurt egos and mistrust between law enforcement agencies should not be tolerated or permitted to interfere with protecting the community and bringing criminals to justice.

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Jul 7, 2018 2:25 pm

Guest

Mungo Jerry

@tiredofitall
Well if you are so “tired of it all” then maybe change brands to Summer’s Eve! Cuz you my friend are in fact a douche.

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Jul 7, 2018 5:28 pm

Member

John Q Taxpayer

Just resign Lozier.

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Jul 8, 2018 10:20 am

Member

equalizer13

It’s facts, not political posturing. If you want bullshit, buy the Times. Top story, Scott Toadie’s report on upcoming concerts!

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Jul 8, 2018 10:24 am

Member

economyresident

So our illustrious commissioners have lied to us? Say it ain’t so! But of course, Sandy was the bad one so…

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Jul 7, 2018 11:59 am

Member

economyresident

It’s so easy to hit the ”thumbs down” and cowardly scroll on down the page…

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Jul 8, 2018 2:28 pm

Guest

Sandy Fredericks

Stop all incompetent officials pensions ( and we know who who they are ). That would help somewhat. Why reward incompetency? We the taxpayers are being punished for their stupidity and paying for their vacations to Mexico.